In a decision that will benefit prisoners serving jail terms in Madhya Pradesh, the state government has decided to double the wages of jail inmates.

In a decision that will benefit prisoners serving jail terms in Madhya Pradesh, the state government has decided to double the wages of jail inmates.

The government has hiked the wages of prisoners from Rs 55 to Rs 110 for half day. “Prisoners in our jails are involved in various production activities for which they are paid. But till now wages given to them were very less. They were paid just Rs 55 for half day, but from now onwards they will be paid Rs 110,” said deputy inspector general, jail (law), RS Vijayvargiya.

The government has also approved a proposal of selling products made by jail inmates without floating tenders. The existing procedure of selling the products made by them after floating tenders was time consuming.

Henceforth, the jail department will directly sell the products on approved rates to various government departments.

In a high-level meeting of the jail department it has been decided that brand name of all the products produced by jail inmates will be Kanha.

Registration process of the brand name is under process. Prisoners of various jails were producing several useful products like uniforms, furniture, towels, bed sheets and decorative items at massive level for years.

“We have decided that we will focus more on supplying furniture to government offices and producing bandages, gauze, cotton pads and uniforms for patients. We were already supplying furniture to directorate and secretariat offices, but from now we will start its production in jail at massive level,” said Vijayvergiya.

All the jail superintendents have been instructed to prepare a list of products which is being produced in their respective jails and can be sold to other government departments. They have been also asked to submit production price and selling price of all the listed products to jail headquarter.

The jail headquarter will verify the list and finalise the selling price of the products so that the process of vending products can be conducted.